


Parenting 101

by Virareve



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BabyWingman!Tommen, F/M, Firefighter!Brienne, SingleDad!Jaime, SingleMom!Brienne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Virareve/pseuds/Virareve
Summary: Jaime was a good dad. Really. Sure, this year had been a little rough but he'd been doing all right. Then he found himself standing in the middle of a Walder's Mart parking lot, looking at his son from the wrong side of a locked car door.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 48
Kudos: 167
Collections: JB Festive Festival Exchange 2020





	Parenting 101

**Author's Note:**

  * For [belugas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/belugas/gifts).



> Belugas,
> 
> Pulling this together was a joy and I do so hope you like the result. I wrote a few different stories for the baby fic prompt but it wasn't until I had this idea at the near last hour that I knew this one would be the best of the bunch and worthy of being a gift for you. :) 
> 
> Happy New Year!  
> -Vira
> 
> Many thanks to NaomiGnome for the light beta, EryiScrye for the cheerleading and brainstorming, and the wonderful Slips for putting this whole shingding together. <3

Jaime had never felt so stupid in his life. Sure, Cersei had liked to play her mind games when she was in his life but by the time they realized she was pregnant with Tommen, he was already on the up and up. He hadn’t given her words any credence.

Until now. Here he was standing in the middle of a Walder's Mart parking lot, talking to his son from the wrong side of the locked car door while they waited for the Fire department to show up and rescue his kid. 

Jaime had been doing a grocery run. After loading the groceries and then Tommen into the car, he was dropping his cart off at the cart parking two stalls away, before he realized his keys weren’t in his pocket. He raced back to his car only to watch in horror as Tommen kicked his legs and his onesie-covered heel fell smack down onto the lock button.

“C’mon Tommen,” he begged through the window he'd forgotten to completely close when he parked. “Kick your legs again!” He even kicked one of his own legs up to show Tommen what he meant but the baby just gurgled merrily and waved his arms. 

Jaime’s face fell and then he tapped at the glass. “Right there, the keys, hit the keys.”

Tommen squealed. 

“Right,” Jaime exhaled through his nose, on track to have a one-sided conversation with his son in a public parking lot. “Thank gods it's early spring right now otherwise I’d have to break this window so you didn’t bake.” His face paled at the thought of anything happening to his small son. 

“This is the first time, you know?” He threw his hands up, looking to Tommen for feedback, His baby boy watched him with rapt attention. His green eyes wide, he looked ready to play listener. “You know she-who-will-not-be-named used to let Myrcella run free willy-nilly in the house for hours without keeping an eye on her before I caught on. She could’ve gotten hurt!” Tommen blinked, as if indicating his father should go on. Jaime wanted to cry. It had only been ten months or so with him and the kids, Cersei high-tailing it immediately as soon as their son was born, and it had been hard figuring out how to be a dad and a working father but he thought they’d been doing well. Myrcella had certainly been smiling more, but now all his achievements felt moot because of the wall of glass between him and his youngest. He sighed, head falling against the window, “I’m a good dad, I swear.”

“I’m sure you are,” came a gentle voice from beside him. Jaime startled, ready to tell off whoever was listening in on his conversation with his son but his body seized up. 

_Shit_.

Jaime’d listened to stories about the Amazons on his favorite podcasts, learning about legends like Andromache and Hippolyta, Antiope and Penthesiliea, and imagined them to be fantastical creatures of the songs, but even his wildest imaginings had nothing on reality. 

The blonde before him smiled softly. She had a KLFD t-shirt with a _Station 55_ emblazoned on the logo on the right side of her chest. She was tall, taller than him no doubt and the shape of her shirt against the lines of her shoulders seemed to emphasize them, making her body look dangerously cut with muscle. She had her hair shaved along the side of her head and long on top, parted on one side so it fell in a nice asymmetrical wave to the side of her face. A few strands fell onto her forehead. And her eyes? Gods. Her eyes were the strongest hue of blue Jaime had ever seen. Like sapphires.

 _Hands down she could bench press me,_ Jaime mused. _Hell what I’d give for her to throw me down and—_

Her eyes looked back and forth between Tommen and him. 

Tommen. Shit. He needed to get his head out of the gutter. He hadn’t had sex in over a year, but that didn’t mean he should start objectifying the firefighter who had come to help him free his son, regardless of how hot she was. 

_Well don’t be a creep about it!_ chided a voice in his head that sounded an awful lot like Sansa, his best friend and source for all advice. _If you can make sure not to fudge it up, you can totally try to get her number, just don’t use any advice Tyrion has given you. EVER._

Jaime coughed. “I like to think so, but I just locked my son in the car. And I mean I don’t usually lock him in the car. It’s been a year and I was just putting—”

The firefighter stepped closer to him and peered inside to assess Tommen. His son gurgled at her and lifted his arms and legs to tell her hello.

She smiled and gave him a wave. 

“Well, he doesn’t look too worried so that’s a good start,” she observed, eyes scanning the car. “Does a sweet boy like him have a name?”

“Tommen. And I’m Jaime.”

He held out his left hand, and opened his mouth once he realized she wouldn’t even know, but she looked unperturbed when she reached out her own left and gave it a shake. 

“Brienne.”

“Our hero, Brienne the firefighter of Station 55.” Brienne blushed, a blotchy thing that started at the roots of her hair and trailed further than he could see. 

He stopped his thoughts there. 

“It’s just part of the job, sir,” she answered him, running a hand through her hair and flashing him with the definition of her biceps and forearms. “Let me grab my Halligan bar and then I think we’ll have Tommen out in no time.”

She patted his shoulder and briefly Jaime forgot to breathe. He whirled back to Tommen. 

“You don’t think it’s gauche if I asked her out, do you?” he said to Tommen. The baby tilted his head as if waiting for him to go on. “I’m not trying to steal your limelight, swear,” he whispered, conspiratorially, “but she’s cute. And who knows, she may not be interested in a guy with kids anyways.”

The sounds of Brienne’s boots came nearer and Jaime shut his mouth, looking up at her in all her glory, toolbox in one hand and a metal poker-looking thing in the other, resting on her broad, defined shoulder, wisps of her blond hair falling in front of her face. “Is your car alarm on?

“Uhh….”Jaime blinked, “Sorry, got distracted, I don’t think so. I think Tommen only hit the lock button once, but I was away for a sec when I put the cart away so if he hit it a second time then yeah.”

Brienne looked at him with care. “I know it’s scary to have your son locked in the car by himself, but we’ll get him out in a bit, Jaime.” She set her tools on the ground between them and rifled through before she pulled out something that looked like it might have been a doorstop. 

“Hand me the Halligan, would you?” she told him, while working the object between the main car body and the door. 

Jaime looked at her tools with confusion. 

Brienne chuckled, a light, airy thing, “The long metal rod.” 

Jaime gave it to her. “Sorry, you’d think being really hands-on with stuff at home I’d know what to do with that.”

Brienne paused, quiet for a second before wiggling and jamming the tools so the door unlocked. 

“Thank you!” Jaime exclaimed, jumping into the back seat to inspect Tommen and snatch his keys from under his son's feet. While Brienne had been working away at the door and Jaime torn between making sure his son was safe and figuring out a way to see the hot firefighter again, Tommen had decided his therapy services were no longer needed and made time for some shut eye. Jaime watched him snuggle deeper into the carseat. “Well someone didn’t let locking dad out get in the way of naptime.”

He slid out of the car, making sure to leave the door wide open. 

Brienne was loading her tools back in her truck.

“Thank you, Brienne,” he told her earnestly. 

Brienne turned and flashed her another one of her distracting smiles. “It’s my job. I’m glad we could rescue Tommen without any issues.”

“I’m sure if he hadn’t fallen asleep he’d be grateful,” Jaime laughed. “I know I sure am. He’ll probably sleep the whole way to pick up his sister from preschool.”

“Oh, where does she go?” Brienne asked. Jaime wasn’t sure if she was actually curious or simply being polite. 

“Elia Martell Elementary.”

“Over on Arbor Gold Street?” Jaime peered at her. 

“Yes...do you…?” He let the question hang but Brienne answered immediately with a smile. 

“My son Podrick goes there.”

“Ah,” Jaime found himself peering back down at her hands. “Who’s his teacher?” There was no ring.

“Mrs. Stark.”

He brightened. “Sansa? She’s my best friend, her and her husband have been a huge help since I started doing this parenting thing on my own.”

Brienne eyed him, with more interest he hoped, and nodded. “Podrick loves her. He hardly spoke a word when I brought him in after his parents, my cousin and his wife, died. He’s really opening up with her help. I’ll be heading to the school after shift ends in a half-hour to pick him up.”

A lightbulb went off in Jaime’s head. “Wait, does anyone call your son Pod?”

“Yes, it’s his nickname at home.”

Jaime grinned, “My daughter, she talks about a Pod all the time, but everytime I came to pick her up, I didn’t see her friend so I thought maybe he was a stuffed animal or imaginary friend.”

Brienne giggled and bit her lip, “No he’s very much real, but he's very shy and a bit anxious so he hides a bit when the parents come round. Is your daughter the Myrcie he’s been telling me so much about?”

Her laugh had a wonderful tinkling sound that Jaime thought he’d like to wake up with.

“Myrcella, that’s definitely her.” He paused, an idea hatching in his mind, “Do you...would you be interested in bringing Pod and yourself over for a playdate? We have a nice grass lawn in the back of my house and an absolutely safe play structure. I know Myrcella would love to have him over.”

“Pod would love that,” Brienne answered, fishing her phone from her pocket, “he doesn’t make friends easily. He gets a bit of a stutter when he’s nervous so I’d love for him to be able to meet a friend he’s comfortable with.” They traded phones. 

“Tomorrow’s Friday,” he started, “and the kids usually have a half day at school. Maybe you and Pod could come over after? If you’re not working that is. ” He put himself into her phone as ‘Myrcella and Tommen’s Dad.”

“Sure.” She smiled, getting into the finer details of plans with him.

When she was walking away to her car, she turned back to him one more time. “See you tomorrow!” She waved. 

Jaime gave her a thumb’s up. 

“Did you hear that?” he told Tommen when he slid into the driver’s seat. “We’ve got a date.”

  
  



End file.
